Rangers on paper have struggled at the start of the 2024/25 season when only the results are considered.
A hard pre-season was followed by dropped points at Tynecastle and failure to beat Dynamo Kyiv twice – add this to losing at Parkhead and Philippe Clement is a man under pressure.
The manager finds his team in fourth place in the Scottish Premiership with doubts about his squad and whether or not they can achieve everything that Clement and the fans want.
- READ MORE: Rangers Net Transfer Spend Summer 2024
Chris Sutton dismisses Rangers struggles narrative
One of the teams sitting above Rangers is Aberdeen, who are benefitting from new signings and a new manager bounce.
This has led to suggestions that Rangers won’t just struggle to challenge Celtic, but struggle to finish second.
For once, Rangers have an unlikely supporter in the shape of Chris Sutton, as reported by Football Scotland:
“Jimmy Thelin has brought in one or two players he knows well which will really help. They’ve been a topsy-turvy team in the last few seasons where they’ve had patches where they’re done really well, then the wheels came off. They seem to have taken their time in appointing Jimmy Thelin and he’s a builder of clubs.
“He built Elfsborg and it took him three years to get them to a really decent level and he’ll be hoping to do the same with Aberdeen who are a big club, but they’re striving for consistency. I think splitting the Old Firm isn’t going to happen, it’s a great start for him but let’s not get too carried away just yet.”
Rangers current plight being blown out of proportion
Sutton is right.
It’s four games into the season plus, Rangers have played both Celtic and Hearts away from home.
Aberdeen’s fixture list has been considerably kinder.
The time to make this sort of judgement accurately is after Christmas and when each team has been played home and away.
Without Bojan Miovski, Aberdeen might not have the star quality needed to pull them out the mire when times are tough.
The early recruitment looks good but one factor that is being overlooked is Rangers.
Aberdeen have to close a 40 point gap from last season.
Clement spent most of that campaign with Scott Wright, Ross McCausland and Cyriel Dessers as his forward line and Fabio Silva and Dujon Sterling playing out of position.
With Nedim Bajrami, Vaclav Cerny, Oscar Cortés and Hamza Igamane added to the squad, there is a lot more depth and quality.
There will also be hopes that Danilo can get the lucky break he deserves and stay injury free.
For one Sutton has taken the chance to use common sense rather than take a cheap shot at Rangers whilst they are down.
There’s something strangely uncomfortable about that.
